Italy is definitely one of the best options to spend a special 2015 St. Valentine’s day. During your romantic walks in the city center don’t miss the chance to stop by some of the many museums the Eternal City offers her visitors.
We selected the most outstanding ones to make your choice easier:

Masquerades, horse parades and even spectacular fireworks are planned as celebrations in Rome on the occasion of Carnival, the leading theme being Baroque. A complete historical reenactment is already in process to take visitors and dwellers four hundred years back, at a time when Carnival fireworks were commissioned by the Pope to no less than Bernini and other major artists of the time.
So what are we expecting to take place this week? Several kinds of events ranging from puppet shows for kids to theatre performances, conferences and of course parties for those grown up. Shrove Tuesday falls on February 17, the end of Carnival and its highest peak at one time. We definitely suggest not to miss out a couple of events:
– at 4 pm: the horse parade with acrobats, musicians and Roman typical masks all rigorously Renaissance and Baroque style. From Piazza del Popolo they will march down to Piazza Venezia invading via del Corso to bring an explosion of waving halberds, ancient flags and coats of arms;
– at 6 pm: Baroque fireworks from Pincio (the terrace facing on Piazza del Popolo from Villa Borghese). Interestingly enough, they are designed on the same patterns used during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Our staff at Yes Hotel will be happy to provide you with more details about each event!

Carnival time has arrived, and wherever you will be in Italy in the next two weeks you will get the chance to attend a great variety of events related to it, all deeply rooted in ancient local history: the baroque masks in Venice, the colorful chart parades in Viareggio, the quirky battles of oranges (which origin can be traced back to an event occurred in the Middle Age) in Ivrea as well as in Acireale. From North to South every region will bring back to life its peculiar yearly tradition.
The reason behind such a great variety has to be found in the fact that despite Carnival is now a landmark in the Catholic calendar (marking the beginning of Lens, i.e. the fourty days before Easter), in ancient times it was a festivity related to pagan and pre-Christian beliefs.
As Easter, Carnival is not a fixed holiday. Here below you find 2015 main dates:
– yesterday, Sunday 1 February: beginning of Carnival
– 12 February: Fat Thursday (major celebrations)
– 17 February: Shrove Tuesday (major celebrations and end of Carnival)
– 18 February: Ash Wednesday (beginning of Lent)
– 5 April: Easter
To fully enjoy the atmosphere, make sure to taste the typical Carnival sweets! There’s a big variety once again, but the most widespread are the castagnole (‘Carnival dough balls’, ‘Carnival fritter’) and the crostoli (‘angel wings’, which take different names depending on the region, such as chiacchiere, frappe etc.).Yes Hotel staff will be glad to provide you with more info on the best Carnival parties & events in Rome!

Last week a special event was celebrated in the Vatican: the Swiss Guard’s birthday. This corp is in charge for the Pope’s safetysince 1506: given the great political instability the then Pope Julius II decided to recruit soldiers from Switzerland, which at that time was home to the most well trained men at arms, to such an extent that all European kings used to hire them for their own protection. Guided by Captain Kaspar of Silenen, the first Swiss garrison of the Pope officially entered the Vatican on 22 January 1506. They gave proof of their trustworthyness very soon: when Rome was assaulted and ravaged in 1527, the Swiss Guards defended the Pope at the cost of their lives: out of 189 soldiers only 42 survived, basically just those who had taken the Pope to his fortress in Castel Sant’Angelo (a fascinating monument today open to visitors).
The Swiss Guard uniform is actually quite recent: its current shape and colors date back just to 1914, when the new design was created following some drawings byRaffaello.Yes Hotel is well connected to the Vatican City by metro: catch line A (at just 5 minutes walking from us) and get off at Ottaviano!